Temporary work visa programs grew 13% under Trump: Estimated number of temporary migrant workers employed in the United States, 2016 and 2019
| Number of workers employed | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nonimmigrant visa classification | 2016 | 2019 |
| A-3 visa for attendants, servants, or personal employees of A-1 and A-2 visa holders | 2,162 | 1,687 |
| B-1 visa for temporary visitors for business | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| CW-1 visa for transitional workers on the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands | 8,093 | 3,263 |
| F-1 visa for foreign students, Optional Practical Training program (OPT) and STEM OPT extensions | 199,031 | 223,308 |
| G-5 visa for attendants, servants, or personal employees of G-1 through G-4 visa holder | 1,309 | 945 |
| E-1 visa for treaty traders and their spouses and children | 8,085 | 6,668 |
| E-2 visa for treaty investors and their spouses and children | 66,738 | 66,738 |
| E-3 visa for Australian specialty occupation professionals | 15,628 | 16,858 |
| H-1B visa for specialty occupations | 528,993 | 583,420 |
| H-2A visa for seasonal agricultural occupations | 134,368 | 204,801 |
| H-2B visa for seasonal nonagricultural occupations | 149,491 | 160,410 |
| H-4 visa for spouses of certain H-1B workers | 54,936 | 74,749 |
| J-1 visa for Exchange Visitor Program participants/workers | 193,520 | 222,597 |
| J-2 visa for spouses of J-1 exchange visitors | 10,147 | 11,781 |
| L-1 visa for intracompany transferees | 316,224 | 337,164 |
| L-2 visa for spouses of intracompany transferees | 25,670 | 25,673 |
| O-1/O-2 visa for persons with extraordinary ability and their assistants | 38,706 | 47,725 |
| P-1 visa for internationally recognized athletes and members of entertainment groups | 24,262 | 25,601 |
| P-2 visa for artists or entertainers in a reciprocal exchange program | 97 | 107 |
| P-3 visa for artists or entertainers in a reciprocal exchange program | 8,426 | 9,848 |
| TN visa or status for Canadian and Mexican nationals in certain professional occupations under NAFTA | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| Total | 1,838,886 | 2,076,343 |
Notes: Methodology for calculating the number of workers derived from Daniel Costa and Jennifer Rosenbaum, Temporary Foreign Workers by the Numbers: New Estimates by Visa Classification, Economic Policy Institute, March 2017. All references to a particular year should be understood to mean the U.S. government’s fiscal year (Oct. 1–Sept. 30).
Sources
Bureau of Consular Affairs, “Nonimmigrant Visa Statistics,” U.S. Department of State; USCIS, “Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, All Receipts, Approvals, Denials Grouped by Eligibility Category and Filing Type, Fiscal Year 2019”; H-1B Authorized-to-Work Population Estimate, Office of Policy and Strategy, Research Division, June 2020; Daniel Costa and Jennifer Rosenbaum, Temporary Foreign Workers by the Numbers: New Estimates by Visa Classification, Economic Policy Institute, March 2017; Letter from Sen. Grassley to Attorney General Lynch and Secretaries Johnson, Kerry, and Perez, June 7, 2016; U.S. Government Accountability Office, Nonimmigrant Investors: Actions Needed to Improve E-2 Visa Adjudication and Fraud Coordination, GAO-19-577, July 2019; Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, “J-1 Physicians: Essential to U.S. Health Care” (infographic), Oct. 9, 2020.
This chart appears in:
- Temporary work visa programs and the need for reform: A briefing on program frameworks, policy issues and fixes, and the impact of COVID-19
- Testimony prepared for the U.S. House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections for a hearing on “Second-class workers – Assessing H-2 visa programs’ impact on workers”
- Costa Senate Testimony just for charts
- Costa charts for Senate testimony 2023 in order DO NOT USE
- Testimony prepared for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary for a hearing on ‘From Farm to Table, Immigrant Workers Get the Job Done’